I Have Pictures of All Your Faces
by sherbertglasses
Summary: The Doctor and River go through some of the Doctor's old photos. Pairing: Eleven/River


They were sitting in the TARDIS library in front of the fireplace giggling and drinking cocoa, when the conversation found its way to the subject of regeneration.

"So which one are you on?" asked River.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, I'm on my third body. Which one are you on?"

It was still early in their relationship from her point of view. She didn't know him inside and out the way she one day would. "I'm on my eleventh." he said somewhat reluctantly.

She gasped comically. "Cradle robber."

"Don't tease," he said. "Anyway, at my age you could say that about anyone I might date. …Except Jack."

"Who's Jack?"

The Doctor smiled. "Oh, he'd like you." then he thought. "And you'd like him too. …Possibly too much."

"Ooo, is he pretty?" she smiled slyly.

"Very. And you don't get to meet him."

"Why not? Two's company, three's a party."

"That's exactly what he'd say." he took her empty mug and set it on the table. Then he smiled looking up at her from under his brow. "Maybe we'll invite him over someday."

This time she gasped for real. "Why, sweetie, I never thought you had it in you!" She kissed him. "So were they all as handsome as you?"

"Hm?"

"Your other bodies."

"Oh! Some, yes. Others, not so much."

"I wish I could meet you all."

"Hold on!" Suddenly he leapt up and dashed off into the depths of the library. Just as River was starting to get bored, he returned with a shoebox. "Here we are."

"What's that?"

"Pictures." He opened it and fished around. "Where are you, old man?" he mumbled to himself. "Ah-ha!" He produced a photograph of a white-haired old man and a teenage girl and handed it to River. "That's me with my granddaughter Susan."

"Your first body?" She didn't ask about Susan. She knew what had happened to Gallifrey and assumed she went with it. She didn't want to hurt the Doctor by bringing it up.

"Yup. A bit worn out by that time, though. I'm sure I have pictures of that body younger, but I'd have to find the old school albums." Then he pulled out a row of photobooth pictures. "That's me in my second body on the left, that's Jamie in the middle, and Ben on the right."

"Some day you'll have to tell me about all your companions too."

"Another time," he said.

Then he handed her what looked like a military company photograph. The only things out of place where the young lady in the feathery coat and what looked like a magician. She made an informed guess. "That must be you!"

"I do stand out a bit, don't I?"

She laughed. "Always."

The next picture was of a man in a very long scarf and a floppy hat with another young lady, brunette this time, and one of the men from the military squad. "That's me, Sarah Jane, and Alistair."

"Love the scarf! And look at your hair! It's almost like mine!"

"I had similar hair to your's twice, actually."

"Really? Oh, I must see the other one."

"He'll get his turn."

The next one was a young man in a cricket outfit, two women and a boy of about fifteen.

"That's me in the middle," he said.

"You make friends wherever you go, don't you?" she smiled.

"Well, enemies too, but I think it's best to remember the friends."

She kissed him on the cheek. "Alright, next one."

He passed it to her and received the expected reaction.

She let out a bark of laughter. "Oh my god, that outfit!" She laughed some more.

"Alright, it's not that funny."

"Yes it is!" She calmed down. "And that hair is _not_ like mine. The curls are too tight."

"You pull it off better, anyway."

The next picture was of a short, slightly portly man with a jolly smile next to a young girl with a large jacket.

"That one's my seventh with Ace." He passed her another. "That's my Eighth with Fitz."

"Oh, my! Such pretty boys! Which one is you and which one is Fitz?"

"That's me on the right and Fitz on the left."

She looked at the photograph for a while and said, "I think I prefer Fitz."

"What?" yelped the Doctor.

"He's got that whole bad boy rocker thing going on."

"But I was beautiful in that regeneration! That's one of the ones I'm most proud of."

"Oh, you are," she said. "You're gorgeous! But Fitz looks more, well, experienced."

The Doctor frowned. "I'll show you a bad boy." He gave her another photo. "There. Look at all the leathery…leather."

The picture contained a tall man in leather with large ears and a smile charmingly too big for his face. She assumed this was the Doctor. She didn't have to assume really, everything about him said 'Doctor'. She could see his soul in all of these pictures. The picture also contained a blond girl and a man with gelled hair.

"That's Jack, incidentally," he said.

"Oh, you're right," she said. "I wouldn't mind having him over to join us one night."

The Doctor chuckled and handed her one last photo.

"When was this taken?" she asked. "The girl's clothes look too modern for the picture quality."

"That's from when Martha and I were stuck in 1969"

"You're very handsome."

"I know." He smiled smugly and River shoved him a little. She tried to hand back the photos, but he placed his hand over hers. "No, you keep those. Put them in your diary."

She smiled. "Alright." She picked up her diary from the table and tucked the pictures into the back. She would cellotape them in later.

"Now," said the Doctor. "What do you say we move to the bedroom and I show you how much more experienced than Fitz I am?"

River smiled. She stood up and yanked him forward by his braces. "Come on you."


End file.
